MASON CITY — City and economic development officials expressed regret Friday at the news that Prestage Foods of Iowa is no longer interested in locating in Mason City.

And a North Iowa pastor, one of the vocal opposition, urged opponents not to gloat but to help the city heal.

Mayor Eric Bookmeyer and Chad Schreck, head of the North Iowa Corridor EDC, said they are ready to move on with other projects.

Prestage officials expressed their decision Thursday night.

Since the announcement March 21 that the North Carolina-based company wanted to build a $240 million pork-processing plant in Mason City, employing close to 2,000 workers, citizens have been divided on their views. After initial support, the Council followed suit.

Proof of the division in the community was a 3-3 council vote on May 3 which defeated the city’s development agreement with Prestage.

Proponents saw the opportunities for more jobs, a broader tax base and chances for further economic and population growth. Opponents raised mostly environmental concerns.

Bookmeyer, who strongly backed the project, said Friday he wanted to extend the city’s best wishes to the Prestage family and staff, and he regrets the results in Mason City.

“There is a city in Iowa that is going to get a tremendous family company and community partner,” Bookmeyer said.

He said he was also disappointed for members of the city staff, economic Corridor and Chamber of Commerce members and he saluted their efforts.

“I am also thankful for the three ‘ayes’ and Mr. Schickel for having the courage to continue to seek solutions,” Bookmeyer said.

Council members Janet Solberg, Travis Hickey and Brett Schoneman voted in favor; Bill Schickel, John Lee and Alex Kuhn voted against the deal on May 3.

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Bookmeyer said, “We have six great council members that will move forward together. We are already on to the next projects and will continue to sell Mason City as a great city in North Iowa.”

Schreck said Friday, “We respect their decision and wish them success in finding the best location for their new venture.

“It was important for the company and our community to have closure on this issue, and now we can all move forward and evaluate where we go from here,” he said.

“North Iowa is an incredibly attractive area for business and lifestyle, and the recent interest from companies big and small proves it. We will all learn from this experience, regroup, and build for the future,” he said.

Rev. Nathan Gann, of the Rhythm Church in Mason City, who opposed the project, said Friday, “Our community is fractured, hurting and angry. Healing is what is most important, which will mean seeing past the disagreements and moving forward. That won’t be easy.

“The people who were against this, please don’t gloat. All of us can focus on the positives in our community going forward. Our city is not dying.

“And all of us can help our city leaders, who were on both sides and displayed so much courage in the face of daily criticism, to keep this community exceptional.”

Rep. Sharon Steckman, D-Mason City, who also opposed the project, said, “I have been continually impressed by the involvement of the citizens of Mason City in this entire process. When they spoke in front of the City Council they were articulate, had researched their facts, and showed how strongly they cared about our community. I am looking forward to seeing that energy bring our community together in a positive manner.”

Steve Noto, head of the Chamber of Commerce board of directors, said, “Throughout this process, we found the Prestage family and Prestage Farms to be honest and forthright. While it was our preference for the economic growth and viability of our community to see this plant built in Mason City, we continue to hope it will be built in North Iowa, so our region can benefit from the associated economic and population growth, including increasing our diversity.”

He said Chamber goals have been and will continue to focus on population growth and increasing the skill sets of the labor force.

In announcing its decision on Mason City Thursday, Prestage said in a press release, “While we appreciate the outpouring of support and efforts made on our behalf to secure support for our project, it is our belief that additional efforts are counterproductive to our company as well as Mason City. It is clear to us that this project exposed deep divisions among the citizens of Mason City.

“We are grateful to the local and state officials, city and county employees, business and education leaders, farmers and everyday citizens who offered their support. Obviously we did not adequately address the misinformation campaign that our opponents effectively used to influence public opinion.”

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(11) comments

Your job is to represent the people of this community and their wishes. What you did was ignore the very obvious desires of the majority, and even when it was voted down, you tried your hardest to overturn the decision. You even got the chamber involved in trying to reverse it. I believe it's time for a new mayor and a few new council members, because you aren't voting the way the voice of the community is telling you to. This is our town, collectively -- not just YOURS.

The only misinformation came from prestage and a select few in the city mainly Bookmeyer. This just shows the lack of true leadership on the part of our elected officials. What misinformation lack of a living wage. They tried to rubber stamp this deal bringing in Branstead in before this was passed was a big mistake and Bookmeyer ended up with egg on his face. Just maybe people are sicken tired of politicians doing what they can for a small group to profit from it.Thank somebody that a small group in the council actually cared about mason city, john Skipper and the globe were a part of this misinformation campaign . Thankfully the people had other sources to get their information from and not to take the opinion of the globe and john Skipper as gospel.

I agree. I think most of the people of Mason City are also against the Hockey rink downtown and all the expenses, increased taxes and upkeep that go with it. This was also crammed down our throat without public input. I hope it falls thru. Vote Bookmeyer out!

Mayor Bookmeyer, you continue to praise the people that insulted our community & your constituents..You STILL have not stood up for the city you were elected to represent, you were not elected by farmers, nor anyone from North Carolina. I believe you & councilman Hickey owe a public apology to the 3 councilman that voted against the "fix" you thought was in, when you stated publicly, on record, "we can't trust this council"..With this fast tracked, backroom, insider deal, most of the citizens DO NOT trust you, the EDC, or the hammer of Commerce.. An active realtor should not serve on the planning & zoning board..nor should they vote on a project like this if they serve as a councilman..this deal stunk from the start, & no more of this should go on..

I believe that he was the impetus behind this "fast-tracked & behind the scenes" Prestage project.He was too inexperienced & skilled when first elected and has not learned much at all since then.His willingness to promote his own agenda above that of the citizens of Mason City proves that he is inept, clueless and devious.His disparaging remarks about the three council members that voted down that project also proves that he has virtually zero leadership skills.He has been in over his head since day one.Eric Bookmeyer needs to go as he is not for the people of Mason City.... he is just for Eric Bookmeyer.

And while we are at it, the 4th ward council person need to go as well. Janet Solberg sat through most of those three meetings like a bump on a log, completely clueless and then had the pomposity to agree with Prestage that we are racists.The very few comments that she made during those meetings were inane and demonstrating her complete lack of comprehension of the issue .She has to be one of the most inept people to ever sit on the Mason City council.

I think people will regret the loss of the Prestage project going forward in Mason City. We have lost so many opportunities to grow our community such as the gasification plant that would have extended the use of our landfill for decades. Let's see where we can have that moved to without citizens complaining about that. Another loss for our area was the casino. People voted that down due to doom and gloom so Worth county picked up the opportunity and many people here moved to Worth County to take advantage of the casino giving money for every child for education. How can we keep passing up these opportunities and still maintain a level of city and county services without tax increases due to reduced population base. Think about it!

Another obvious slanted article. Opponents expressed "mostly environmental concerns"? It was much much more than that. There were major concerns over the quality of the jobs, the affects on community that has occurred in other communities with meat slaughter / packing / processing plants, the affects on the schools, major questions about the background of Prestage and it's officials...the list goes on. "Environmental concerns" was just one item on a long list of concerns. And....if the Chamber, and the City, is focused on an "increasing skill set"....well, is hog slaughter really in that category? Don't think so....

I thank our city leaders, economic development people and others that tried to move Mason City forward. This was a gallant effort to help us grow that was derailed by out of town paid-for-protestors and the complacency of business leaders that thought it was a slam dunk for the city.

So let's see, a small loudmouthed minority who spoke primarily opinion rather than facts killed the biggest growth deal to come to Mason City in decades. Nice. If bringing Prestage to Mason City had been put to a city wide vote it would have passed just like the Curries bond issue passed by 90% some years ago. I wonder, will the protestors from out of town protest at the next city Prestage chooses for building a new plant or did they come here just cause they hate Mason City? Because this plant will get built in Iowa and some lucky region will get the economic benefit while Mason City continues to lose population and with it economic base. Some other city council will not bend to the minority. To be fair there were some well articulated objections presented, but all of the those were solvable and did not warrant killing the deal, the rest were just baseless opinion. Bottom line is this process shows we still don't have the city council this town needs, an intelligent council not stuck in the rut this town has been in for far too long. The only reason the 'antis' won is because the majority of the town and the region who wanted this project to succeed did not dream this city council people would ever vote this project down. This city is lucky to have a smart mayor in Eric Bookmeyer willing to work as hard as he does. Let's give him an equally good council next time around.

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